A Long Slow Kiss At Midnight
by forensicsfan
Summary: A tasty treat for my fellow lovers of chocolate, nougat, peanuts, and caramel. NS for those of you who might be a little confuse.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them. I do however own several Snickers bars, a blue car, and the best kitty ever.

**Author's Note:** This is for those who love the chocolate, nougat, caramel, and peanutty goodness known as Snickers. This is in response to my own challenge posted to my fellow Snickers lovers.

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_**A Long Slow Kiss At Midnight**_

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It was a dark and stormy night and the last thing that Nick Stokes really wanted to do was to leave the comfort of his home on his first night off in over two weeks. He'd planned to kick back, drink a few beers and watch whichever baseball game he found interesting. But here he was driving through an absolute downpour towards Sara's apartment all because she'd called him in a panic and begged him to come now, right now please. 

If it had been anyone else, he might have blown them off unless they'd given him a pretty damn good reason. But this was Sara and while he probably wouldn't admit it to anyone but himself, he'd do just about anything for her if she asked. His brow furrowed as he tried to dissect the tone in her voice on the phone. It wasn't a tone he'd heard before and maybe that's why he felt a sense of urgency as he pressed his foot onto the accelerator a bit harder. Clearly she needed him.

He haphazardly pulled into a parking spot in her lot and took the steps to her third floor apartment two at a time, before taking a brief second to compose himself before he knocked on the door.

Nick wasn't sure what he expected when Sara answered the door, but it definitely wasn't what greeted him. A nervous looking Sara stood there with a sheepish smile on her face with a camera crew standing right behind her.

"Hey." Nick looked perplexed. "What's all this?" He was completely thrown for a loop and in the midst of it all, he felt a sense of relief wash over him as he realized that Sara looked fine.

"Dinner." Sara's cheeks flushed a little pink as she began to explain. "For you."

A blond man with a wide smile stepped towards Nick and extended his hand. "Hullo, mate, I'm Curtis Stone, I'm a chef." The Aussie gestured towards his camera crew and then to Sara. "We met Sara in the market earlier today and offered to come home with her and prepare a wonderful meal for both of you."

Nick looked confused again; he hadn't recalled Sara inviting him to dinner or even asking him to come over until about ten minutes ago. "Oh." And what was she doing inviting strange men home in the first place; she was a CSI for goodness sake.

Curtis continued. "We've been cooking all afternoon and now you can just sit back and relax and enjoy." He was grinning widely as if he knew something that Nick didn't.

"You're on TV." Sara was smiling, but her eyes were pleading with him to understand.

Nick smiled back at her. "So what's for dinner?" Whatever this was all about, he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it and embarrass her.

Relief was evident in Sara's eyes. "You have to wait and find out." Her smile conveyed that she thought he was too good to be true right then.

"You two go relax, I've got a bit more to finish up, and then we'll serve the first course." Curtis sounded exceptionally pleased about cooking for Nick and Sara as he disappeared back into her small kitchen.

Out of earshot of the cameras and Curtis, Sara felt compelled to explain. "I thought this was such a good idea, and you've done so many things for me...I just kept putting off calling you this afternoon because I didn't want to wake you up...and...well..." A smile stole over her features as she wasn't sure what else to say. "Thank you for coming."

Nick was grinning at her. "I thought something was wrong...this is a good surprise." The idea that she'd done this thinking about him gave him courage that maybe just maybe he should test the waters a little bit.

It wasn't long before Curtis Stone was serving up a lovely spread, Chilean sea bass along with a rather interesting vegetable medley. Nick felt himself really unwinding as he and Sara shared their meal, despite the fact that there were cameras capturing their every move. The meal was topped off with a to-die-for chocolate torte explosion and a little red wine.

As the shooting wrapped up and Curtis and the crew said their goodbyes, Nick knew that Sara wanted to say something to him. He just couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of her and every time she caught him looking, she simply smiled and a faint pink hue tinged her cheeks.

Finally, they were alone, and Nick felt nervous. He wasn't sure why exactly, maybe this was just an elaborate thank you and the signals he'd felt like he'd been picking up all evening were off base. This was Sara. They worked together for years and he would have sworn that she was in love with Grissom; well at least up until about six months ago anyway; she didn't really seem so focused on him these days.

"Did you want to stick around for a while and watch a movie or something?" Sara was trying to project a casual demeanor, but she sounded nervous.

The edges of Nick's mouth turned upwards slowly as he realized that he wasn't the only one that seemed to be feeling something here. "A movie sounds good." He didn't even have an urge to tell her that he wasn't about to watch a chick flick with her; at that moment he'd watch anything with her if it meant he could sit close to her on the couch and find a way to tangle his fingers in the soft waves of her hair.

"Good." Sara's smile was completely unrestrained as she just stood there looking at him, not making any move towards the couch at all.

"Did you have something specific in mind?" Nick couldn't help but grin right back at her despite the flipping sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Sara's look was thoughtful as she considered his words for a long moment. She noticed the time on the wall clock out of the corner of her eye. It was almost midnight. She'd wasted a lot of time and she really didn't want to waste anymore. "Yeah, I do have something specific in mind."

Nick wasn't really all that surprised when she stepped towards him and rested her hands on his biceps. "Hmm, I think I have something specific in mind too." Nick's hands found her waist and then he slowly dipped his head and softly pressed his lips against hers, feeling nervous for only the fraction of a second it took for her to respond to it. It was a soft, long, slow kiss and it was in a word heavenly.

As they broke apart several moments later, Sara whispered. "I wasn't sure how to tell you how I was feeling...and then I ran into Curtis and I knew it had to be like this." Her arms had found their way around his neck and they were standing impossibly close.

"How did you get the night off anyway?" It occurred to him that she really should be at work. Of course, they'd all been working far too much lately, and right now, he wouldn't let her go for anything.

"Too much overtime." Sara smiled at him before leaning in for another long slow kiss.

Before long, the idea of the movie had been completely forgotten and Nick's fingers were tangled up in Sara's curls as they lay tangled up in her sheets, sated and happier than either of them had been in a very long time.

And that was just the beginning. It wasn't entirely happily ever after, but it was damn near close.

_**The End**_


End file.
